Tag Archives: rare stereo

Despite only being released as a b-side only to the non-LP single “I Wonder Who’s Kissing Her Now” (in mono only) in ‘1962, this gem of a track was originally slated to be the title track to Bobby’s Capitol debut LP, As Long as I’m Singin’ – which became Oh! Look at Me Now albeit with a few alternate takes of the final tracks and the former title track left off the line-up.

The Billy May-arranged “As Long as I’m Singing” came up again as an opener for an otherwise arranged Bob Florence LP, however once again, an As Long as I’m Singing album didn’t happen – this time with most of the excellent recordings such as “Hello Young Lovers”, This Nearly Was Mine”, and “The Sweetest Sounds” left in the can for years, with most of the “leftovers” coming out on various Capitol compilations throughout the 90s and ’00s.

Fortunately, both Bobby and the audience seemed to know how great the song actually was – Bobby used it often to open his live shows and it became a staple of his – the name eventually and aptly finally being used for Rhino’s career-spanning Bobby Darin box set from 1995.

Here is the original 1964 STEREO mix made for the second album taken from the acetate. The mix differs from the excellent stereo debut one done in the 1980s by Ron Furmanek (with brief count-in), in that you can hear a bit more of the piano and there is a generous amount of that vintage Capitol reverb surrounding Bobby’s magical vocals.

From Ken Kelly who prepared this: “I cleaned this acetate on a record cleaning machine and the fidelity is mostly excellent. Minimal sonic cleanup was done to best preserve the feel and vitality of the original recording. So, without further adieu, here is the “Bobby-approved” 1962/1964 stereo mix of “As Long As I’m Singing”…”

Here’s Bobby’s sole Christmas single in rare WIDE STEREO from his excellent 1960 spiritual Christmas LP, “The 25th Day of December”. (Note the original single, “Child of God”, was released as mono-only).

Released by ATCO in 1960, Bobby chose to record more “spiritual” songs to celebrate the season as opposed to the more traditional pop “Jingle Bells”, “Sleigh Ride” tunes he could have easily knocked out of the park. As usual, Bobby wanted to do something different – an album that felt like the holiday spirit – spiritual jazz pop gospel – the Darin way.

Arranged by Bobby Scott (who arranged Bobby’s two originally shelved ATCO LPs, “It’s You Or No One” and “Winners”). There was simply a glut of Bobby material he recorded at the time and they released those two complete albums after his tenure at ATCO.

This wonderful seasonal album is available in WIDE stereo exclusively on the Real Gone Music CD reissue, mastered directly from the original stereo tapes!

Exclusive version with Bobby’s recorded intro from the 1961 Stereo LP, “The Bobby Darin Story”

Bobby had a hit with another fantastic arrangement by Richard Behrke (“Mack the Knife”) on this old Hoagy Carmichael number!

Just missed the number 1 spot in the UK reaching #2 on the charts in 1961!

Mono is almost always the go-to version of this wonderful rendition as you’ll notice in this stereo mix the wider, yet still smooth, “ping-pong” vocals. A great companion to the hit mono version and with exclusive Bobby commentary for this LP-only!